One Year Later
by beautiful.mind-broken.body
Summary: It's one year after the book takes place and The Curtis boys, Steve and TwoBit are back. Everything seems to be settling down finally... or does it?
1. Chapter 1

-1Pony's POV:

I woke up to Soda singing Johnny Cash from the shower. When I rolled over I could see the top of his blond head bobbing up and down just above the top of the shower curtain. Soda almost never shut the door when he showered.

"Because you're miiiine," He howled, partially muted by the sound of the running water. "I walk the line!"

I groaned, realizing that I wasn't going to be getting any more sleep, and sluggishly rolled out of bed and shuffled into the bathroom. Bracing myself against the sink, I looked into the mirror and grimaced at the drowsy looking person that started back. My hair was sticking up in places it shouldn't have been and one of my eyebrows looked like I'd stolen it off Groucho Marx.

"What are you singing Johnny Cash for?" I growled, swatting at the shower curtain.

Soda stuck his head out, still half covered in suds, and grinned. I suddenly wanted to dunk his head in the toilet--and maybe even hold him under the water for a little while.

"Gee, I don't know Pony," He laughed. "Darry was listening to it last night. Guess I got it stuck in my brain somehow."

"Well do me a favor and get it unstuck," I muttered.

"Do me a favor and pass me the soap, would you?" He quipped, sticking his hand out of the shower and dripping water onto the floor.

"Hey, watch it Soda," I sighed slapping the bar of soap into his hand. "Darry's gonna pitch a fit if he sees all this water on the floor."

The grin half melted off Soda's face. "You wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something today?" He asked.

I just shrugged and started tackling my cowlicks with the hair grease.

"You sure do look goofy with your hair all sticking up like that Pone," He said quietly, the corners of his mouth twitching as he tried not to crack up.

I tried my hardest not to smile back at him, and ended up turning around just to keep him from seeing it. Then, mostly to save face, I flushed the toilet which instantly tuned the shower ice cold.

"Jeez Pony!" He yelped as he jumped out of the shower, groping for a towel. I just laughed and headed back into the room we still shared with him close behind me.


	2. Chapter 2

-1Ponyboy's POV:

Soda flopped onto the bed we still shared as I dug through the basket of clean laundry Darry had asked us to put away about a week ago.

"You want to know something?" He asked, the impish tone in his voice sparking my interest a little.

I didn't turn around though, just shrugged my shoulders and kept looking for a pair of jeans that weren't already worn out in the knees.

"Come on Pony," He goaded me, popping up from his stomach to his knees. "I know something you don't… Ain't the suspense just about killing you?"

I chuckled half-heartedly. "I'm pretty sure you're the only person in the world that has to know everything about anything," I said dryly. "I'm perfectly content just minding my own business."

I turned around to look for my shoe and saw that notorious grin melt off his face. The sudden pang of guilt that jolted my stomach caught me by surprise, as it was the first thing I'd really felt in a while.

"I'm sorry Soda," I said letting out a deep sigh. "You're right; I must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed today."

Soda's eyes met mine, but I quickly looked away. I wondered if he'd been able to see what I was really thinking--what was really going on in my head--but decided against it when he cracked another grin and tousled my hair.

"So you want to know or not?" He asked.

I tried to appear earnest as I nodded my head. He suddenly jumped up off the bed and stuck his head out the door, looking up and down the hall, then shutting the door.

"Okay," He whispered, running back across the room and bounding onto the end of the bed. He hunched down so that his wet head was almost touching mine. "You know that girl? The one that's been hanging around Darry lately?"

"You mean Holly?" I asked wryly. "The girl Darry's been dating for the past four months?"

Soda nodded excitedly. "Yeah, her," He whispered loudly. "You want to know something about her? And about Darry too."

Honestly, I could care less about Darry's sugary sweet girlfriend, but I nodded anyways.

"Darry said he was taking her out last night, just to dinner and the drive-in," He told me. "But he never came home till probably six in the morning. And she was with him still!"

I shrugged. Darry was a grown man. If he wanted to be running around town at all hour of the night with his girl then I guessed he could.

"And what's more--" He paused for dramatic effect. "She's still here. They're both sleeping in his room!"

I just looked at him.

"In the same bed!" He cried when I didn't react.

I still didn't understand what the big deal was. Soda and I slept in the same bed all the time…


	3. Chapter 3

-1Pony's POV:

Suddenly Darry's large form was in the middle of our door frame.

"You two clowns want to hurry it up?" He said in the same highly irritated tone he'd taken to using lately. "Your breakfast is getting cold and Two-Bit's just about driving me crazy out there."

My head snapped up at the mention of Two-Bit's name. He'd hung around for a few months after… well, after Johnny and Dally were gone. Around June he'd taken off for Texas to work on some oil rig. Other than a few post cards and one long distance call at Christmas, we hadn't heard much from him.

"Aw, jeez Darry," Soda cried in despair. "I wanted to tell him!"

Darry shrugged and stood in the doorway for another minute before abruptly looking extremely uncomfortable and retreating to his room. Things had been weird between Darry and me for a long time now. We hardly ever fought, mostly for Soda's sake, but without him yelling at me all the time it seemed like we didn't have a thing to talk about.

"What's Two-Bit doing back here?" I asked Soda as he pulled a t-shirt on over his head.

"I dunno," Soda said, pausing for a minute as if to ponder why he hadn't asked him that himself. "Alls I know is that he's back here to stay, for now anyways."

There was a slight nervous sensation slowly building in the pit of my stomach. I didn't much understand it, but then, I hadn't been entirely right in the head lately. Most of the time I felt like I was walking around in a fog. Sometimes I'd find Darry or Soda looking at me like I'd gone off the deep end and have no idea why. But I had other things going on in my mind that seemed to vastly occupy most of my thoughts.

"…Pony?" I snapped back to reality to realize that Soda had asked me a question, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was.

"Huh?" I said, sounding ridiculously dumb, even to me.

"You gonna stand there off in space all day or you want to go welcome him back to the neighborhood?" He asked, shaking his head but grinning all the same.

I just nodded and started to follow him out to the kitchen, but stopped short at what I saw through the open crack of Darry's bedroom door. There, sprawled out across his bed, was Holly. Her long, chocolaty brown hair was fanned out around her face like it was on display or something. I wondered why Soda had been so worked up over her sleeping in Darry's bed again, but was unexpectedly jolted out of my daydream by Darry appearing in the door, giving me a fierce look, then slamming the door shut. I stood there, stupidly staring at the dull brass handle for a few seconds until I heard a blissfully familiar voice from the living room.

"Ponyboy Curtis!" Two-Bit whooped. "Get your gangly self down here boy!"


	4. Chapter 4

Pony's POV:

For a second, I almost didn't recognize Two-Bit. The sideburns that he had so treasured had dissolved into the week-old growth of auburn hair and the hair on his head had been sun bleached practically blond. He'd also let it grow out to just above his shoulders.

He looked tired, I though, older somehow. He looked a lot like Darry did when he used to roof houses; flat out exhausted. But, somewhere deep inside, his eyes still danced like the Two-Bit I remembered.

"How you been Two-Bit?" I asked him as he caught me in a swift bear hug.

"Oh, you know," He shrugged, half a grin on his face. "Just working a lot, trying to save up some money."

Soda started cracking up form the kitchen. "Never thought I'd see the day when Keith Matthews would be holding down a steady job."

"Yeah, yeah get your jollies," Two-Bit said good-naturedly. "I guess I just finally realized that it was about time to stop dicking around and do something with my life."

"What exactly did you do?" Soda asked, as Two-Bit's post cards had always been pretty vague.

And then the twinkle in his eyes was back again, full force. "Saved up enough money to buy the dump you work in," He laughed.

Soda and I were both silent.

"You what?" I cried.

Two-Bit threw his head back and let out a giant, roaring laugh. "Well, I was working on the oil rig--like I told y'all--when the foreman on the site asked me if I'd rather work in the shop fixing all the machines," He told us excitedly. "And they offered to train me, and the pay was better, so I agreed and the rest is history."

Soda's mouth was hanging open. "So… so you're my… my boss?" He asked bewilderedly.

Two-Bit stopped laughing and paused to think about it for a minute. "I guess I am," He grinned and messed up Soda's hair. "C'mon, I want to head down there and check out what needs to be done."

Soda jumped off the counter in the kitchen and started bouncing up and down excitedly. "This is gonna be the best!" He cried, then turned to me. "Ain't it Pony? Ain't it gonna be the best ever?"

I smile, half heartedly, and nodded.

"You want to come with?" Two-Bit asked holding the door open and Soda bounded past him.

"He can't," I heard Darry's deep, rugged voice growl from behind me.

"Why not?" Soda demanded. Lately, he'd been ticking up for me when Darry started in on me.

"Because I told him to clean the bathroom yesterday and he didn't do it," Darry declared.

Soda and Two-Bit both looked at me.

"I did too!" I cried. "I did it right after you told me to!"

"Well you didn't do it good enough," Darry barked. "So you're gonna stay here and do it again, got it?"

Soda's eyes were fiery with rage. He tugged at the ring in his ear that he'd gotten a few months earlier to piss Darry off, a habit he'd developed only recently.

"I'm his big brother and I say he gets to come," Soda announced definitely, as if his word was law.

"Well I'm his biggest brother and I say he's not," Darry said sardonically.

Soda looked about ready to fly off the handle. I caught Two-Bit's eye, plainly telling him to just get Soda out of the house before a real fight broke out.

"Come on pal," Two-Bit said slinging his arm around Soda's shoulder. "I'll buy you and ice cream on the way."

Suddenly Soda looked torn between helping me and going to get a free ice cream. In the end, the ice cream won out and Two-Bit led him out the door with a sympathetic glance towards me.

I blew past Darry, heading for the bathroom. I was really getting sick of him going on these power trips of his. It seemed that he'd been throwing his weight around a lot lately, and I wasn't sure how much more of it I could take.

_Thank you, everyone, for your reviews. As those of you who read my wok regularly know, reviews just inspire me to get my chapters out quicker… so REVIEW! Also, I'm looking for someone to beta… other than that keep your eyes open for more chapters coming very soon. J Hannie_


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